SORROW IS THE COMMON LOT. Though nobody is always sorrowful, there is in every life many a time when the mind is sore and the heart bruised. Yet people with a sore heart often sing; they find relief in breathing a hymn of prayerful trust. How beautiful is a good man under affliction! A child is often sore in mind because he is not understood and has not the heart-felt sympathy of those who direct him, Women also are sorrowful. Though a man be (n the most fortunate state of life he will have something to bruise his heart. I have heard of a lady whose husband was the worship of both her mind and heart; and when he was killed in a railway accident, her grief was so terrible that in a moment she seemed ten years older. A short time afterwards, she lost her children, and later on, through the failure of a bank, her fortune disappeared; but she endured these misfortunes with calmness, and her minister once asked, “How is it that you can bear up so well after the loss of your children and your money?” She replied, “In the death of my husband the greatest wound came the first.” It is unwise to meet sorrow halfway. But there is one sorrow that we should seek and cultivate; it is the sorrow that we are not more godly. There is another sorrow which is worth having; it is that pain of heart which feels for the man or woman who is wounded in the conflict of life. In the ancient world, sorrow was considered to be God’s curse, but the early Christians saw that God meant it as a sacred discipline: and therefore when sorrow came to them, they called it “tribulatio,” using the word and image to set forth an elevating truth, namely, the separation of the evil in them from the good.
II. Let us notice ONE OR TWO PERSONAL SORROWS IN WHICH SOME OF YOU ARE MORE OR LESS CONCERNED.
1. If you are sore in mind because you have done wrong, let your first thought be one of gratitude, that God can and does forgive your sins.
2. Many good people are sore in mind through a physical or temporal trouble. What is more unpleasant than to hear a cart wheel screeching every time it turns? So, you have in your lot something like a screeching wheel, and every move makes you feel the affliction. But the oil of Divine grace will cure it.
III. THE CROWN OF SORROW IS TRUSTING GOD. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him,” etc.
IV. Let us learn THE OBJECT OF SORROW. It is to teach us to be patient and kindly. If you put roses into a cracked pot of commonest clay, it will breathe forth perfume; and from the most prickly plant, the thorn, we gather the sweetest flowers, So if the peace of God perfume your sorrowing heart, the thorns and briars of your affliction shall make your life bright with the flowers of godliness and charity. Bear your sorrow with true courage and sublime cheerfulness, not only for your own sake, but for our sake who look on you; for we wish to learn the way to bear our pain. (W. Birch.)
God an island when fortunes are wrecked
Let me tell you of a man who went home one day, and sitting down in his armchair, put his hand on his brow as if in great trouble. His little child went up to him, saying, “Father, what’s the matter?” Looking down upon her with eyes of despair, he replied, “Ah, little Mary, I’m ruined!” She said, “Ruined, father, what’s that?” He answered, “Why, my child, I’m like a man in a boat on the sea, and during a storm the boat has upset, and he is east on a desolate island.” She climbed on his knee, stroking his face, and after awhile, exclaimed. “Well but, father, you know, you have only lost the boat; you haven’t lost yourself, have you?” With tears in his eyes, he said, “Ah, no, thank God! I have only lost the boat; my heart and my life remain!” Then she asked, “Father, what’s the name of the island?” He replied, “That is the worst of it Mary.” “I don’t know.” She said, “But, father, I know; yea, I know the name of the island you are on; why, father, it is a nice island!” The wretched man tried to smile, and drawing the dear little face to his breast, said, “Mary, dear, tell me the name of the island!” She replied, “Oh, father, don’t you know? you are dull tonight! why, father, the name of the island is God!” The sorrowful man was very, still, and little Mary looking up in his face, put her arms round his neck, saying, “Poor father, what makes you cry? Why don’t you go upstairs and tell God about it?” Then he gently lifted the dear child down, and went to tell out his heart’s sorrow to God. It is true his business had fallen but a Divine hand upheld him. (W. Birch.)
Trusting God in affliction
A coloured preacher was in the habit of exhorting his people when they were in affliction to “Truss de Lord.” When they were in sore distress, he had only one remedy, “Brudder, truss de Lord!” One day, however, while the old parson was crossing a river, the boat upset, and being unable to swim, he made a great splutter and screamed like a madman. After much trouble, he was got out and brought safely to the river bank, when one of his congregation said, “Masea Preacher, why didn’t you truss de Lord; why did you holler and scream when you were in de river; why didn’t you truss de Lord, and be patient?” The dark minister exclaimed, “Ah, you know, brudder, It is truss de Lord on de land, not on de water.” Of course, anybody can trust in the Lord when they are on the land of peace and comfort; but it needs Christian faith and fortitude to be contented in the waters of affliction. (W. Birch.)
The Christian attitude towards trouble
Christians who give up their special religious work because they are in sorrow, may be likened to rusty nails in a bag under the counter of the ironmonger’s shop; while the man who keeps on doing his best, believing that God is with him, is a man in a sure place, ready to bear all the weight that is hung on it. (W. Birch.)
